Differential transcriptional reprogramming by wild type and lymphoma-associated mutant MYC proteins as B-cells convert to lymphoma-like cells

The transcription factor MYC regulates the expression of a vast number of genes and is implicated in various human malignancies, for which its deregulation by genomic events such as translocation or amplification can be either disease-defining or associated with poor prognosis. In hematological malignancies MYC is frequently subject to missense mutations and one such hot spot where mutations have led to increased protein stability and elevated transformation activity exists within its transactivation domain. Here we present and characterize a model system for studying the effects of gradually increasing MYC levels as B-cells progress to lymphoma-like cells. Inclusion of two frequent lymphoma-associated MYC mutants (T58A and T58I) allowed for discrimination of changes in the MYC regulatory program according to mutation status. Progressive increase in MYC levels significantly altered the transcript levels of 7569 genes and subsets of these were regulated differently in mutant MYC proteins compared to WT MYC or between the mutant MYC proteins. Functional classification of the differentially regulated genes based on expression levels across different MYC levels confirmed previously found MYC regulated functions such as ribosome biogenesis and purine metabolism while other functional groups such as the downregulation of genes involved in B-cell differentiation and chemotaxis were novel. Gene sets that were differently regulated in cells overexpressing mutant MYC proteins contained an over-representation of genes involved in DNA Replication and transition from the G2 phase to mitosis. The cell model presented here mimics changes seen during lymphoma development in the E-Myc mouse model as well as MYC-dependent events associated with poor prognosis in a wide range of human cancer types and therefore constitutes a relevant cell model for in vitro mechanistic studies of wild type and mutant MYC proteins in relation to lymphoma development.